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Purpose: This paper contributes to the literature by proposing an analysis of digital inequalities in Russia that focuses on two aspects hitherto under explored: the interregionality (by comparing and contrasting eight federal districts) and the multidimensionality of digital inequalities (by taking into account the three levels of digital divide). Therefore, the aim is to address the phenomenon of digital divide in Russia by discussing the three levels of the digital divide (access / skills / benefits) in a comparative and interregional perspective. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses secondary data for its analysis, including both national (e.g. the total number of daily Internet users in Russia) and more regionalized data (related to particular federal districts of Russia). The choice of data sources was determined by an attempt to provide a detailed and multifaceted coverage of all three levels of the digital divide in Russia, which is not limited to the access problem only. For this purpose, we are using and re-elaborating various reports about the development of the Internet and ICTs in Russia prepared by national and international organizations to cover the first level of the digital divide. To shed light upon the second and third levels of the digital divide, we discuss digital literacy report (2018), the report on Internet openness index of Russian regions (2017) and the report on the digital life index of the Russian regions (2016). Finally, in the attempt to map out the key directions of the state policy aimed at decreasing digital inequality in Russia, on both federal and regional levels, we analyze the most important regional and national policy measures to foster digitalization such as the digital Russia program, the digital government program and the program of eliminating digital inequality in Russia. Findings: We consider this study to be both a first exploration and a baseline of the three level digital divides in Russia. The paper shows how the level of socioeconomic development of the federal districts, as well as a number of objective factors (distance/isolation, urbanization level, availability of infrastructure and costs for building new infrastructure, etc.) have impact upon digitalization of the regions. As a result, several federal districts of Russia (Central, Northwestern, and, in a number of cases, Ural and Volga federal districts) more often than others take leading positions in rankings, in terms of degree of Internet penetration, audience numbers, use of e-services, etc. This correlation, however, is not universal as we will show, and some regions lacking behind in terms of access can be booming in terms of digital literacy or other factors, like it happened with the Far Eastern Federal district for example. All in all, our research showed that digital inequality in Russia is still on place and will require more time for complete elimination, even though current state and public initiatives are being actively developed. Originality/value: This paper will bring to light meaningful insights into the three levels of digital divides in Russia. Based on a multilevel (three levels of digital divide) and multi-sectional approach (the interplay of different types of inequalities), this paper contributed to overall better understanding of the digital inequalities phenomenon in Russia. It also allowed for a comparative interregional perspective, which has been missing in most papers on digital inequalities in Russia so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the mental health care system in Russia against the background of rapid social, economic and political change since the late 1980s. Method: Indicators of social stress and deteriorating population mental health and official data on service provision are presented. Results: In the current system of psychiatric care dispensaries take a central position. Key issues of the discussion on mental health care include ways of coping with social stress disorders, strategies to redefine psychiatric rehabilitation in a changed social-economic context and steps towards strengthening social support networks for people with mental illness. Following political abuse of psychiatry, professionals have had to face justified and unjustified accusations, and been faced with a general challenge to their role. Conclusion: Tackling problems of social stress, the integration of mental health care in the general medical care system and the building-up of general hospital in-patient psychiatric units are of strategic importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the impact a Russian amended law concerning state secrets is having on science publishing by Russian scientists. It states President Vladimir Putin used a decree in May 2015 expanding the scope of a law requiring scientists get permission from the Federal Security Service prior to publishing results which could have industrial or military applications. It reports Russian universities are requiring scientists seek approval to the publication of any findings without exception.

In many countries, the rapid evolution of digital platform technology has triggered significant shifts in competition law. Many have interpreted China's recent moves as signaling a broader crackdown on private entrepreneurship. In Russia, even before the invasion of Ukraine, government policy became increasingly restrictive toward foreign internet platforms. This paper analyzes the development and enforcement of competition law in Russia and China. We show that both technologically driven changes in the ability of digital platform firms to exercise market power and changes in the external political environment affect the relative strength and coalitions of interested bureaucratic actors and influence policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's armed aggression has caused a deep socio-economic crisis and has far-reaching unpredictable consequences for the national economy. One of the key negative consequences of Russia’s armed aggression is the threat to the sustainable development of the national economy. All aspects of sustainable development in Ukraine are affected: economic development, environmental protection, social and gender equality, etc. Under Russian armed aggression, there is an urgent need for balanced and sound strategic state regulation, which is designed to ensure sustainable development in Ukraine in the short and long term. The aim of the paper is to determine the features of strategic state regulation under Russia’s armed aggression in the development of the national economy in the coordinates of sustainable development. The paper considers Ukraine's progress in achieving the goals of sustainable development. The most problematic areas in terms of sustainable development goals are outlined with a focus on Russia’s armed aggression as the major cause. An overview of the situation in the world in terms of the conflict level is performed, common features in the field of sustainable development in countries affected by armed aggression are highlighted. It is emphasized that the difficulties in achieving the goals of sustainable development are complex in nature. Sustainable development drivers are both of financial and non-financial nature. Four key factors that hinder the achievement of sustainable development goals at the present stage are considered: 1. Liquidity shortage globally; 2. Complicated access to debt financing; 3. The need for urgent financial measures; 4. The need to increase productivity and productive capacity. A description of the UNDP scenario on the development of the consequences of Russian armed aggression in the field of poverty in Ukraine is given. The key areas of focus for a set of Government measures in the context of a large-scale socio-economic crisis have been identified. The importance of applying a coordinated and sound policy of the Government under Russian armed aggression was emphasized. Special attention is paid to the need to use a flexible approach in developing a set of measures for strategic governmental regulation to ensure sustainable development. The importance of applying digitalization achievements in the context of implementing support programs for citizens and businesses was emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of the determinants of regional government debt in the Russian Federation using data from 2005–2017. We document that total indebtedness of Russian regions has grown substantially since 2010 and find significant changes in the structure of regional debt, primarily the increased use of budget credits offered by the federal government. Market debt instruments are determined by a different set of factors than non-market instruments. In fact, poorer and less fiscally independent regions have lower access to budget credits and are forced to rely on more expensive market debt instruments, particularly commercial loans. Budget credits and commercial loans are shown to be substitutes, although the nature of this substitution is contrary to declared redistributive goals of public policy. Finally, we find the presence of horizontal strategic interactions in debt issuance across Russian regions: regions react positively to increased debt issuance in the same federal district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Tea Road (Wanli chadao) is a 13,000 km trade route that for two centuries connected Qing China and Tsarist Russia. It has been identified in recent years as an important category of China's route heritage. The rediscovery of the Great Tea Road, and other Chinese route heritage, is being framed in a 'mobility narrative', that is, a narrative that describes how mobility and exchange over space and time contribute to the formation of the Chinese nation or Zhonghua minzu. Since 2013 the Great Tea Road has been incorporated into the 'authorised mobility narrative' of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and in particular to the BRI agreement linking China, Mongolia and Russia. In 2019 the Great Tea Road was placed on the China list for World Heritage application. This paper examines the rise of the Great Tea Road in contemporary China and describes the various actors that play a formative role in developing the narratives and policies associated with such route heritage. It finds that the Chinese combination of 'mobility narrative' and 'heritage bureaucracy' provides a discursive and institutional frame that is able to mobilise significant resources in the pursuit of cultural policy and heritage diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life expectancy at birth has attracted interest in various fields, as a health indicator that measures the quality of life. Its appeal relies on the ability to enclose and summarize all the factors affecting longevity. However, more granular information, provided by social indicators such as cause-of-death mortality rates, plays a crucial role in defining appropriate policies for governments to achieve well-being and sustainability goals. Unfortunately, their availability is not always guaranteed. Exploiting the relationship between life expectancy at birth and cause-of-death mortality rates, in this paper we propose an indirect model to produce estimates of death rates due to specific causes using the summary indicator of life expectancy at birth, thus the general levels of the observed mortality. By leveraging on a constrained optimization procedure, we ensure a robust framework where the cause-specific mortality rates are coherent to the aggregate mortality. The main advantage is that indirect estimations allow us to overcome the data availability problem: very often the cause-specific mortality data are incomplete, whereas data on the aggregate mortality are not. Using data from the Human Cause-of-Death Database, we show a numerical application of our model to two different countries, Russia and Spain, which have experienced a different evolution of life expectancy and different leading causes of death. In Spain, we detected the impact of several public health policies on the lowered levels of cancer deaths and related life expectancy increases. As regards the Russia, our results catch the effects of the anti-alcohol campaign of 1985–1988 on longevity changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the effects of Russia's 2007 'Maternal Capital Law', a non-cash subsidy awarded to mothers with the birth of their second or higher order child, on men's consumption of alcohol. It uses introduction of the Law as a natural experiment to track the effects of increased women's power due to their greater contribution to familial resources on male private consumption. The fixed effects difference-in-difference model, which groups families by their likelihood of having an eligible child, uses 2003–2012 data from Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE). Consistent with the family bargaining theories, the findings indicate that introduction of the Law contributed to the decline in male alcohol consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay sheds light on Soviet and Russian Foreign Policy through use of the “critical geopolitical” concept of the “geo-code.” A state’s “geo-code” refers to the construction of narratives regarding its own space and history over time. Borrowing from Klaus Dodd’s ideal-type categories, which he uses to explain geo-coded narratives of British policy (“little England,” “cosmopolitan,” “European” and “American”), this paper proposes to utilize combinations of four ideal-type categories, “Atlantic/European,” “ethnic Russian,” “Eurasian” and “super power,” in order to analyze and explain Soviet and Russian foreign policy. The first section applies the metaphor of a photograph to the memoirs of several foreign policy leaders: Andrei Gromyko and Eduard Shevardnadze in the Soviet-era; and Andrei Kozyrev, Evgenii Primakov and Serghei Ivanov in contemporary Russia. The paper shows how the composite image of Russia held by these individuals shaped the state’s foreign policy. It also stresses that different concepts of sovereignty have been sustained or reconstructed within Soviet/Russian international law theories in dialogue with changes in images held by the foreign policy leader. The latter half of the paper further develops this theory in order to apply it to Putin’s current Russian foreign policy perception of Northeast Asia, and particularly of China and Japan. From the late Soviet period under Gorbachev to the early Russian period of Yeltsin, Japan was considered as one of the “rising” powers able to aid Russia’s political and economic transition, and it was widely recognized that the relationship would be facilitated by a peace treaty resolving the territorial issue between the two countries. However, following reconciliation between Russia and China, China became the more important partner for Russia, not only in Northeast Asia but also throughout Eurasia. Following its disengagement with the West after the Ukraine crisis in 2014, Russia’s image of itself as close to “Europe” slipped, while that of the state as “ethnic Russian” and “Eurasian” that must become a “great power” to oppose the US was emphasized. This has meant that Japan is no longer an essential partner from the viewpoint of Russia’s dominant foreign policy images. In turn, the significance of China has increased and developed for Russia beyond the two countries historical “love-hate” relationship. Not only policy makers but also ordinary people look to China as Russia’s “No.1” partner, while the United States is its indefatigable “enemy.” There is no room for Japan in this picture while Japan remains so dependent on the US for security matters. In the conclusion, the paper debunks the myths associated with “classical geopolitics,” which associate foreign policy solely with perceptions of state power and geography. It shows that a “geo-politics” which links the positivist and constructive approaches, and which seeks to account for various analytical scales—from micro to macro, below/beyond the state—can analyze foreign policy change more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development has increasingly entered into the Arctic context. For Russia, the Arctic means enormous natural resources and potential for the country's social and economic well-being. The focus of this paper is the dynamics of environmental and Arctic legislation in Russia; attention is also given to the rationale and justification of legal implications of sustainable development in the Russian Arctic. Specifically, it discusses barriers in transitioning to sustainable development and estimates relevant legal tools used over the last three decades applicable to the Arctic territories. The general idea is that despite strong political will to promote sustainable development, Russia's unstable economy has impeded the country's sustainability development objectives. Consequently, resource-based development is prioritized over environmental concerns and puts environmentally fragile territories, like the Arctic, at great risk. The research methods include context analysis of the Russian federal and regional laws and contextual interviews at the federal and regional government levels. The results of the research are the identification of achievements and deficiencies in the rule of law related to sustainable development of the Russian Arctic as well as policy recommendations for public authorities. The paper outlines that as long as Russian legislation lacks specific rules addressing sustainability in the Russian Arctic, it would be difficult for the government to implement international principles of sustainable development across this territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of the study is to discuss and critically assess the outcomes of the Foresight study of the Russian energy sector, undertaken in 2014 in the course of a large-scale national Foresight exercise – “Science and Technology (S&T) Foresight 2030”.Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the author performs an ex post evaluation of the Foresight study. The methods used are the literature review of the research and analytical publications that appeared after 2014, policy analysis of new national energy regulations and technologies, interviews and expert panels, and performing a final SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the Foresight study.Findings As a result of the study, the expediency, efficacy, process efficiency, quality, impact and process improvement of the National S&T Foresight 2030 were assessed. Moreover, the SWOT for the National Foresight and its energy-related outcomes were identified. The National Foresight methodology and its outcomes are critically reviewed, and recommendations for their refinement are made.Research limitations/implications Future research on the topic may include subsequent ex ante and ex post evaluations of energy technology foresights that will include revised lists of technologies, given the rapidly changing energy markets, as well as an assessment of the integration of the study results in the energy and S&T policy documents.Practical implications The practical implications of the study are linked with turning the prospective R&D areas identified through the Foresight into state priorities for funding energy research. Energy companies may utilize the study results in their development plans and R&D strategies.Originality/value This paper offers a valuable insight in the future of energy research and technologies in Russia. It is a comprehensive study that covers all energy aspects from extraction of hydrocarbons to fuel cells and nuclear energy. An ex post assessment of the study is made with implications for the future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the patterns, and possible causes and consequences of public universities decline across nations in general and Russian Federation in particular. It is argued that decline in public higher education systems is a common feature across the Western and developing nations as well as Russia. It is further argued that this global decline was, and still is to a great extent, triggered by a worldwide marketization of the higher education systems, sweeping privatization, and ideological conservative economic theory of market supremacy that led to the major shrinkage of public sectors' resources and even deinstitutionalization of public institutions. The purpose of the study is to elaborate on the background and possible causes and consequences of declining public universities, and to reveal basic patterns of the decline with a particular reference to the Russian public higher education institutions (HEIs). The theoretical framework with related literature is drawn from the perspectives on organization theory (e.g., organizational decline, cutback management, organizational resource interdependency theory), public choice economic theory, bureaucratic politics, and political economy of public expenditures theory. An analytical approach is proposed and applied for evaluating the dynamics and potential outcomes, using a four-step analysis that covers (1) universities' resource base dynamics indexes to calculate and to single out the group of declining organizations; (2) a cluster analysis of dynamic characteristics of declining public universities and their performances; (3)two sample t-tests were performed for declining universities; and (4) analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews with the top-management of seven particular declining Russian universities. Findings reveal that there are common causes for public universities decline, classified as intra-organizational, contextual, and technological factors. It is also illustrated that the dynamics of the performance characteristics of the declining public universities with statistically significant scores differ for the worse as compared to the control group. The findings allowed making a series of propositions for public policy and university leadership lesson-drawing, with several policy and administration implications for public higher education institutions across other nations worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of forests in national climate policies of two countries very rich in woods: Russia and Canada. Canada has made efforts to reduce direct CO2 emissions in the national economy, intensify forestry, and increase greenhouse gas sequestration by forests. Russia focuses on the verification and recalculation of the carbon sequestration capacity of its forests. Analysis of the Russian and Canadian stationary models used to assess the carbon sequestration capacity of forests (ROBUL and CBM-CFS, respectively) shows that both the Canadian model and the Russian one derived from it reflect the stationary dynamics of forest stands, which inevitably results in a downward CO2 absorption trend. Even if the forest inventory is updated on a regular basis, the predictive components of such models are unable to take into account the variability of forest ecosystems and their adaptation to climate change. Models that describe global carbon fluxes (e.g., ones using FLUXNET and remote sensing data) provide significantly higher net carbon sequestration values and indicate a nondecreasing net carbon accumulation trend in forests. It is concluded that stationary and remote sensing models should be used together to assess net carbon sequestration and formulate key principles of national climate policies in countries rich in forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social remittances- the transfer of ideas, practices, and codes of behaviors- are a well-documented subject in migrant transnationalism literature and transnational family studies. However, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak has generated unprecedented regulations around the world which require widening the conceptual basis of social remittances in a state of emergency. As the pandemic progresses, most countries require civilians to follow a number of norms deemed as the "new normality," while other countries continue to operate under their "old normality," with minor or no restrictions. As national pandemic policy responses vary across countries, transnational families live under different regimes of "normality." In these settings, the study of transnational families offers a valuable opportunity to examine a special type of social remittances practiced during global crises, and analyze whether the exchange of rules, practices, and ideas across national borders has any impact on re-shaping and renegotiating pandemic-coping "new normality" practices for both migrants and their families. The paper is based on 13 in-depth interviews conducted with representatives from Armenian transnational families with migrant members in Russia, the Czech Republic, or Belarus. These countries provide a backdrop for an examination of social remittances among transnational families that we term "pandemic transnationalism." The study shows that the circulation of safety rules and "good practices" actively shapes the everyday behavior of migrants and their families, their level of perceived danger towards the coronavirus, and their practical knowledge of safety measures. The latter are often harnessed in informal collective settings despite being in conflict with the obligations and regulations of their home society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How might public policy changes affect electoral support for authoritarian regimes? Missing from the existing scholarship, which focuses mostly on regimes generating political budget cycles and manipulating electoral rules, is an exploration of how non-fiscal and non-electoral policies may impact incumbent support. We examine this issue with electoral and census data from one of the world's most prominent authoritarian regimes – Russia – to evaluate the regime's 2017 change to the policy governing native language instruction, which curtailed minority students' ability to learn their native languages and faced opposition in some ethnic regions. Examining panel data on presidential elections using fixed effects models, our results reveal that the regime's support decreased in titular minority areas in 2018. The results also indicate that some of these patterns emerged in previous national legislative elections and thus cannot be solely attributed to the policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a tripartite framework of transportation, transformation and translation to conceptualise the circulation, mutation and impacts of mobile policies as translocal, socio-material networks. Drawing on material from semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documents it considers the value of this framework by examining the mobility of the sustainability agenda of the Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi, Russia. The paper shows how sustainability policies were packaged and mobilised to flow to Russia (transportation), how ineffective governance arrangements, a lack of institutional controls and time pressure altered them (transformation) and how the results fell far short of initial bid commitments (translation). As such, it sheds light onto the multiple immobilities and mutations that come with the attempts to mobilise policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue of restructuring socialist housing estates in St. Petersburg, Russia, with an emphasis on residents' perceptions of the wide range of economic, social, and environmental impacts of that restructuring. A new housing renewal program, 'renovatsiia' (renovation) of khrushchevki, has been controversial from the very beginning and involves the demolition of existing khrushchevki and the construction of new housing on the same sites. By examining the issue within the framework of housing regeneration in the post-socialist context, the paper aims to provide insights into some of the challenges of urban renewal in the housing sector in the second largest Russian city. The paper at the same time investigates the viability of the collaborative planning model in the context of the post-socialist city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term “civil society” in Russia is often taken to refer to civic organisations and movements created during and after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and is sometimes equated narrowly with “NGOs” – registered non-government, non-commercial, or public organisations. This paper attempts to look at civil society more widely. It considers both registered organisations and more spontaneous/informal civic actions; and follows local experts in challenging the idea that Russian civil society began in 1989–91. The paper considers both recent developments on the ground, and analyses by historians, sociologists, and political scientists that go back to soviet and pre-soviet periods. Société civile russe : toile de fond, actualité et perspectives futures L'expression « société civile » en Russie est souvent interprétée comme se référant aux organisations et mouvements civiques créés durant et après le morcellement de l'Union soviétique, et elle est souvent étroitement assimilée aux « ONG » - organisations immatriculées non gouvernementales, non commerciales ou publiques. Cet article tente d'examiner la société civile de manière plus large. Il considère à la fois des organisations immatriculées et des actions civiques plus spontanées/informelles ; et il emboîte le pas à des experts locaux en mettant en question l'idée selon laquelle la société civile russe est née en 1989–91. Cet article se penche à la fois sur les récents progrès sur le terrain et sur les analyses menées par des historiens, des sociologues et des politologues qui remontent aux périodes soviétique et pré-soviétique. La sociedad civil rusa: antecedentes y prospectivas actuales y futuras Frecuentemente, en Rusia se utiliza el término “sociedad civil” para referirse a organizaciones y a movimientos cívicos creados durante y después del colapso de la Unión Soviética, a veces equiparándose estrechamente con “ONG”—organizaciones públicas, no gubernamentales, no comerciales y registradas. El presente artículo pretende examinar a la sociedad civil más amplia. En este sentido, revisa tanto las organizaciones registradas como las acciones cívicas, informales y más espontáneas; también da cuenta de la opinión de los expertos locales, quienes cuestionan la idea de que la sociedad civil rusa comenzó en 1989–1991. El artículo examina los acontecimientos que han ocurrido recientemente sobre el terreno, así como aquellos análisis hechos por historiadores, sociólogos y científicos políticos que se remontan a los periódicos soviético y presoviético. Sociedade civil russa: experiências passadas, perspectivas atuais e futuras O termo “sociedade civil” na Rússia é frequentemente usado para se referir a organizações e movimentos civis criados durante e após o colapso da União Soviética e às vezes é quase equiparado a “ONGs” – Organizações Não-Governamentais registradas, organizações não-comerciais ou organizações públicas. Este artigo visa examinar a sociedade civil mais amplamente. Ele considera tanto as organizações registradas quanto as ações civis mais espontâneas/informais; e segue especialistas locais que contestam a ideia de que a sociedade civil russa teve início em 1989–91. O artigo considera os desdobramentos recentes na base e análises de historiadores, sociólogos e cientistas políticos que regressam para os períodos soviéticos e pré-soviéticos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare three countries where public policy has explicitly sought to align incentives of employers and educational institutions around closing the gap between skill formation and labor market demand. In large, heterogeneous countries such as the United States, Russia and China, collaborative arrangements such apprenticeships and other forms of public-private partnerships can be constructed at the subnational level by building on direct, face-to-face ties across educational, business, government, and civic sectors. Drawing on existing literature as well as fieldwork studying a number of specific cases in the three countries, the paper develops a typology of such arrangements and proposes an explanation for the observed variation. It emphasizes the importance of two sets of factors: those that induce cooperation on the part of firms and schools, and those that influence the character of such partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how senior citizens in the far north-eastern Russian city of Magadan have restructured their lives in order to ensure their survival in the face of enduring post-Soviet marginalization. While this is an extreme example of the problems Russia's senior citizens must now face, due to the city's remoteness, climate and high cost of living, the discussions have resonance for the rest of the country. To enable the analysis of this group's survival strategies the paper will first examine the reasons why they are needed, looking at the “creation” of poverty at the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fragmented response of the state to these issues. The paper's final section examines the worrying trends that can be identified in the Russian government's attempts to restructure its social policy with regards to ageing. These reforms, it is argued, will further destabilize the everyday lives of Russia's senior citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostensibly, Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential elections should have placed United States international policy back on a familiar path. However, despite the prevalence of a highly traditional vision of US foreign policy, the Biden administration has maintained significant continuities with the previous administration, as reflected in the policy towards China and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. In part, this is due to the constraints produced by the deep divisions that exist at domestic level. This paper aims to unravel the fundamental elements of Biden's foreign policy, focusing on possible ideological and doctrinal elements, strategic priorities, and any continuities and changes relative to his predecessor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews some government policy measures aimed at strengthening competition in the Russian university market and looks at the best international practices in this area. It analyzes the competitive behavior of universities under the current government policy on higher education and research and development and suggests an approach to assessing the efficiency of government stimulation of competition among universities and to predicting the outcomes of applying existing stimulation tools. This paper presents the results of assessing the current level of competition in the Russian university market using a nonstructural method, an adjusted Panzar-Rosse competition assessment model. We used the value of grants received by universities as part of government orders as one of the model factors and also analyzed the effects of other factors describing the size, entrance requirements, and research activities of universities. This article investigates how university income depends on the value of grants received (a ratio of total income to the size of grants) and on the number of students and teachers. The level of competition in this market is characterized by the elasticity of the total income of an average university based on the value of grants received. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The paper examines emerging prospects for Russia–India cooperation. While the two countries can collaborate in various areas of mutual interest, the paper identifies possible challenges and effects on the cooperation in the Arctic region. The sanctions imposed by the West could impede Russian energy projects in the Arctic. This could force the state to find a way to replace Western technologies through enhancing capacities of national industry and developing cooperation with other states, including Asian countries. This shift is also bolstered by the political interest to strengthen the position of Russia in the Asian region as a whole, and to increase the country's energy security. The paper provides an overview of the Russian and Indian interest and policy in the Arctic, and presents the perspectives and challenges for both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses the major developments in primary care in the Russian Federation under the evolving Semashko model. The overview of the original model and its current version indicates some positive characteristics, including the financial accessibility of care, focus on prevention, patient lists, and gatekeeping by primary-care providers. However, in practice these characteristics do not work according to expectations. The current primary-care system is inefficient and has low quality of care by international standards. The major reasons for the gap between the positive characteristics of the model and the actual developments are discussed, including the excessive specialization of primary care, weak health-workforce policy, the delay in the shift to a general practitioner model, and the dominance of the multispecialty polyclinic, which does not prove advantageous over alternative models. Government attempts to strengthen primary care cover a wide range of activities, but they are not enough to improve the system and cannot do this without more a systematic and consistent approach. The major lesson learnt is that the lack of generalists and coordination cannot be compensated for by the growing number of specialists in the staff of primary-care facilities. Big multispecialty settings (polyclinics in the Russian context) have the potential for more integrated service delivery, but to make it happen, action is needed. Simple decisions, like merging polyclinics, do not help much. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fundamental reform of Russia’s military has passed through a number of distinct phases since its inception in late 2008. This paper describes the phase of consolidation and stability begun in early 2011. Based on research to June 2012, and pre-dating the replacement of Anatoliy Serdyukov as Russian Defence Minister, the paper shows how early planning and forecasting deficiencies were addressed from 2011 onward, with continuing support at the highest level for the overall aims of military reform. Ongoing problems such as procurement and manpower are discussed as serious challenges to Russian military aspirations, and further specific challenges affecting each individual arm of service are described. In conclusion, Russia’s new military capabilities, and the state’s rationale for introducing them, are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are employed in many countries as an alternative method of public service provision in which partners from the public and private sectors share their resources, responsibilities, and risks. Some well-justified factors that drive the partnership development are value for money and lack of budget funding. As PPP drivers may be unique, the paper surveys the reasons for PPP expansion in two transitional countries, Kazakhstan and Russia. Based on detailed discussion of the commonly employed reasons for partnering (such as greater value for money, or lower total social cost associated with a PPP as opposed to contracting out a service), internal and external PPP drivers in Kazakhstan and Russia have been categorized and examined. Among internal drivers, the need to attract private initiative and funding for upgrading the utilities and housing infrastructure is most influential because of enormity of the task for which governments lack resources. The countries' intention to align themselves with the requirements of perceived international best practices is yet additional influential driver of external nature. The paper concludes that public policy in the two countries is the major driving force for PPP development although the value for money concept and transaction cost economics appear to be neglected. The emerging PPP policy paradigm in Kazakhstan and Russia has facilitated PPP development in recent years, since 2005. However, lack of reliable solutions and instruments for PPP formation and implementation significantly slows down PPP expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population decline in modern day Russia is alarmingly steep: Russia loses approximately 750 thousand people each year. To combat population decline, the Russian government instituted aggressive pro-natalist policies. The paper evaluates the capacity of new policies to change women's reproductive behavior using a socio-institutionalist theoretical framework, which analyzes the gendered interaction between the states, the labor market, and family. The paper arrives to a disappointing conclusion that while efforts to improve fertility are quite aggressive, new policies do not challenge gendered hierarchies neither in public nor in private spheres, which will further depress fertility rates of Russian women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the economic challenges faced by Russia brought the government's poor quality of public administration. It states that the government's inability to carry out effective public administration poses obstacles in the conduct of business by public and private entrepreneurs as well as investors. It was observed that the condition impedes the implementation of administrative and civil service policy reforms which are relevant in achieving economic growth. It reveals that the development of an effective strategy by the government which focuses on addressing the problems brought by ineffective public bureaucracies should be considered.

This paper presents two sets of arguments: one theoretical and one analytical. The theoretical arguments concern the relationship between regional ordering and systemic change. The paper questions the usefulness of the unipolar conception of the contemporary system arguing that the interaction of the Great Powers cannot be understood without reference to regional dynamics. Thus, a unipolar system implies considerable potential for U.S. hegemonic intervention at the regional level but in East Asia, we find an equilibrium constructed out of both material and normative forces, defined as a concert, which presents a considerable restraint on all powers, including the U.S. The paper then proceeds to examine these claims through an analysis of the foreign policies of the U.S., Russia, and China over the North Korean nuclear problem that emerged after 2002. It finds that China and Russia have substantive common interests arising from internal and external re-ordering in which they look to strategic partnerships, regional multilateralism, and systemic multipolarization as inter-locking processes. The paper finds that they have collaborated over the Korean crisis to prevent a U.S. unilateral solution but that this should not be construed as a success for an open counterhegemonic strategy as it was only under the constraining conditions of East Asian concert, including the dynamics within the U.S. alliance systems, that this collaboration was successful. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that regional multipolarity and systemic unipolarity are contradictory: a system that exhibits multipolarization at the regional level cannot be characterized as unipolar at the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To define strategic directions for the Russia’s social, economic, scientific and technological development in 2011-2013, a large-scale foresight study including the deep analysis of prospects of biotechnology development there was undertaken (Russia 2030: Science and Technology Foresight). This paper aims to present results of this research.Design/methodology/approach The study was based on a combination of technology-push and market-pull approaches that aimed not only to identify most promising science and technology (S&T) areas but also to understand how they can be realized in practice. Representatives from federal authorities, science and business were involved in the project to create future visions of technological directions; analyze grand challenges, weak signals and wild cards; and set research and development (R&D) priorities.Findings According to results of the study, Russia has a potential for biotech sector development, although the level of R&D in the majority of areas is lagging behind that in the USA and leading EU countries. However, there are several advanced applied research areas where efforts can be focused. Among them are high-performance genomics and post-genomics research platforms, systems and structural biology, microbial metabolic engineering, plant biotechnology and microbial strains and consortia for development of symbiotic plant–microbial communities.Originality/value Concentration of available resources of government and business on biotechnological sector development can help to find answers for challenges that Russia faces today or will face tomorrow. It will help to pick up on the current level of research activities, improve the quality of personnel training, make this area the engine of the economy and carry out the so-called new industrialization of the country, building a new, high-tech device industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present article is to establish what links there may be between leadership styles and war and peace policies in the Russia–Chechen conflict. To do so, we analyze the styles of two unrecognized executive leaders, Aslan Maskhadov and Doku Umarov, both of whom were involved in the same conflict with different peace policies. The structure of the paper is as follows. First, we overview the literature on leadership styles in armed conflict situations and construct a theoretical framework. Second, we review the historical and biographical context. Third, we examine the interview content-analysis methodology for the measuring of leadership style. Fourth, we classify Maskhadov and Umarov on the basis of leadership styles, and compare policies implemented by these leaders with those of other leaders in a context of internal armed conflict. Finally, we present conclusions and future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has positioned itself as a modernising country (re)built on the profits of its energy boom and the efforts of, currently, over four million labour migrants, the majority from Central Asia. Far too many migrants endure an extremely precarious everyday as they are forced to live in what this article describes as a citywide state of exception, within which legal frameworks protecting migrants are ignored or misinterpreted to the benefit of the market. Many migrants who desire ‘legality’ are forced into ‘illegality’ by their employers and landlords refusing to register their documents correctly, increasing their vulnerability. Such abuses are facilitated by the state construction of migrants as diseased and criminal, which in turn becomes embedded into cultural imaginations. Employing Mbembe’s theory of necropolitics, this paper theorises how these constructions position migrants as superfluous and that they can be ‘let to die’. The research demonstrates that migrants are simultaneously visible and invisible to the state; with the latter, the legal uncertainty denies migrants access to welfare and a voice within the city, but they are visible for exploitation both in terms of their labour and the political capital gained from their presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the Winter Olympic Games in Russia and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in Brazil have drawn attention as much for politics as the excitement of the competitions. Russia’s pursuance of discriminatory homosexual policies made it the target of international rights groups; Brazil’s exploitation of the poor for the sake of hosting the World Cup led to several high-profile protests ahead of the event. These large-scale international sporting competitions provide a ready-made platform for naming and shaming states that may have dubious human rights records. The question remains as to whether or not the shaming of these host states by international groups effectively changes a state’s behavior. This paper argues that states facing increased global media attention while hosting an event are likely to substitute repression of physical integrity rights with repression of civil and political rights in an effort to maintain favorable appearances internationally. However, I find support for both physical and expressive rights improving in states when shaming is conditioned on the selection to host an international sporting event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to identify critical factors in success/failure of public policies focusing on fighting the spread of COVID-19 pandemic using a sample of three countries from Central and Eastern Europe with different results regarding COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates, namely the Czech Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Slovak Republic. Based on comprehensive literature review, three independent variables were worked out: the scope/scale of public policy anti-pandemic interventions, the timing of public policy interventions, and the success of public policies in motivating compliance with anti-pandemic measures. Taking into account the similarity of measures introduced by national governments, the results suggest that the timing of public policy responses and success in motivating compliance may be critical factors in containing the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the fall of communism in 1989 and the opening up of borders afterwards, the EU has had a number of anomalous and specific border cases. Each of these must be treated differently based on historical and geographic considerations. It must also be taken into account how these borders function concerning security matters. This paper looks at the Polish - Russian border and how it is being managed by the Republic of Poland. The paper argues that securitization and border permeability should not be thought of as competing forces. Instead they are part of a wider picture and should be treated as balancing forces. The paper likewise argues that Poland is maintaining a balancing act between these two forces by allowing both securitizing the border as it sees fit and allowing the legislation of the Small Border Traffic (SBT) zone to continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia attempts to leverage itself onto the global stage and be portrayed as a global power that must be consulted on major global issues. It does so in order to claim a status of equality with the United States and force it to consider Russian interests before the United States acts in those regions where Russia claims to have vital or important interests, even though its ability to play on a truly global stage is quite limited. Nevertheless, for the reasons advanced above, in Latin America Moscow endeavors to cut a global figure, even if its commercial presence there pales relative to the U.S. or Chinese presence. Although world attention now focuses on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is once again simultaneously expanding its presence in Latin America. Since this process has received little scrutiny, this paper attempts to provide an assessment of Moscow's goals, strategies, tactics, and policy instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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